totally normal behaviour! 
I sometimes put it on at school on mute but the file I have downloaded has no subs. But not to worry because I know it by heart 
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The Divergent Universe arc was an odd one. While the premise was interesting (a universe without time), it seemed the stories were often hit and miss. Then the arc was cut short by the return of Doctor Who to TV and Big Finish not wanting to alienate the potential influx of new fans. What are your thoughts on the success or failure of the Divergent Universe?
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I wouldnāt go so far as to call it a failure, but unfortunately I am one of the Divergent Universe dislikers. Mainly for me, I think itās the combo of wobbly stories and the fact Iām not a huge Charley fan, so thereās not a whole lot there that compels me. Iād listen to it if I were doing a relisten, but there arenāt any episodes Iād choose to listen to as one offs
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I love it. I love when doctor who gets weird, and this is one of the weirdest things the franchise has ever done. Yeah, some of the stories arenāt great, but theyāre totally eclipsed by the quality of the ones that are
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Same here. Iād only really re-listen to it if I were doing a McGann re-listen or a Main Range re-listen. On that note, we should be hitting it in the Audio Club aproximately late-January into February 2025.
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I think the concept of a universe without time is better than the realisation in the audios. Iām not sure itās a concept that we, bound by time as we are, that we can really get our head around and I think the writerās struggled with it because, by a storyās very nature, ātimeā passes from the beginning to a middle and then the end. So Iām not sure what sort of stories they wanted to tell that were in any way different from normal Doctor Who fare. The āexperimentalā stories like Scherzo and The Natural History of Fear donāt even really play with the concept, preferring to explore their own brand of weirdness.
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Agreed. You can also see remnants of the arc in the post-The Next Life stories like Scaredy Cat, Time Works and Something Inside.
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I watched it last night with my 7yo on the Blu-ray for the first time, and then today at a screening with other folks and Daphne Ashbrook, so I just need to watch it again tomorrow. 
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When Doctor Who came back to TV in 2005, the Eighth Doctor left the Divergent Universe and the season/block release schedule for single adventures inter-mixed with the rest of the Main Range. Some of these were Divergent Universe ideas that just moved into our universe, others were more traditional stories with Daleks and Cybermen. What are your thoughts on this little era and the departures of Cārizz and Charley?
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Minuet in Hell is such a fun time lol, Iām right there with you
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After the rapidfire departures of Cārizz and Charley, we got four seasons and a boxset of the next Eighth Companion, Lucie Bleedinā Miller. Gone were the remnants of the Classic Series, the four half-hour episodes and traditional cliffhangers. Here we had individual hour-long episodes with a feisty modern companion designed to mimic the recent success of the 2005 revival. What are your thoughts on Lucie Miller and how these differ from Charley and the Main Range offerings?
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As someone who just thinks the Classic format is much better for Doctor Who, Iām not a big fan. There are some good stories in there though. Lucie herself is fun, I guess, although not a standout. But like no present-day companion is going to be as interesting a character as someone from the past, the future, or an alien world; and the āone 45 minute episode per storyā just canāt do the same amount of stuff with a character, so sheās definitely a step down from Charley and Cārizz in those regards. (Spoilers for series 4) I found Tamsin a little more interesting than Lucie and wish sheād gotten a proper run as a companion, I think she could have been iconic.
To end on a more positive note, my favorite stories from this era are: Human Resources, Grand Theft Cosmos, The Scapegoat, and The Book of Kells.
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I canāt say how she differs from Charley because I havenāt listened to the Eighth Doctor Main Range stuff (getting there!) but I love Lucie Miller and after listening to a dozen Main Range stories I must say I still prefer a single 45-60min episode over several 25min episodes with cliffhangers!!
I know that cliffhangers are a kind of staple for Doctor Who but I find that they often result in a cheap trick where someone gets in trouble and then it is immediately resolved in the next episode.
Pair that with the interruption of the theme music and about 60 seconds of recap each time and I just find it an annoying waste of my time 
sorry!
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I mean thatās basically what the definition of a cliffhanger is, especially from the early days of Saturday morning cinema.
I think both formats work but they tell stories in slightly different ways.
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I love Lucie Miller so intensely, she is literally everything to me <3 it is also very obvious that her era (if we can call it that ) is clearly trying to emulate the New Who style of pace and excitement, so I can see how people would prefer the more āclassicā style of the Charley episodes, and as with every era of Dr Who ever there are dud episodes with Lucie.
However there are also brilliant ones and she and Eight bounce off each other so well and I love her, so there 
perhaps it helps that I listened to her series first, but honestly her era has no more duds than Charleyās (hello Divergent universeā¦)
But I will stop before I start being mean about Charley who is unfortunately not my favourite 
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The stories were explicitly written to follow the revivalās format. This was in part because they were written to be broadcast in the sci-fi slot on what was then called BBC 7, which was the digital radio drama station back in the day.
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And listening to her on the radio is how I got into Big Finish at all!
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Thatās cool!!!
There was a certain type of fan online about 10-15 years ago (you know, when the show was at the height of itās international popularity) who would bemoan the state of the show and claim that it was dying. Usually they would be older men, seemingly upset at the fact that a good portion of the new seriesā audience was younger women. These ātrue fansā would post their ideas on how they would āfixā the show, that would usually amount to just āmore classic monsters and less character developmentā. The Lucie Miller era feels like that. I get the same feeling listening to it that I do fron the Chibnall era. Itās clearly trying to emulate the RTD1 era without fully understanding why that version of the show actually works
Thereās this attitude the series has where it feels like it thinks that āThe Ark in Spaceā, for example, is a good story because it has the Wirrn in it, so if if they use the Wirrn, thatāll be a good story too. Naturally, since this is an audio medium, that just means you get people saying Wirrn or Krynoid or Morbius a lot in otherwise bland stories, expecting to be carried purely by nostalgia that I donāt have. Season 4 is different and good, until the finale where itās just speedrunning āThe Daleksā Invasion of Earthā, with the Daleks explicitly just doing the same plan again, and the reveal that the only reason they brought Susan back was so she could point out that āItās just like the last timeā. Also they changed the theme tune to ājust the 60ās one againā. Itās just upsettingly backwards-looking
Also as a trans woman I really donāt like a lot of the beats of the Auntie Pat arc (particularly the Doctor and Lucieās reactions to it), or the Doctorās comments to the villain in Orbis. I also find the way he treats Alex in Relative Dimensions to be bizzarely patrirchal
I get that this era is popular, but Iāve never understood why
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I think itās a shame to conflate the toxicity of ātrue fansā (who are anything but and more often than not seem to have entirely missed the main message of Doctor Who) with the Lucie Miller era because there are a lot of great stories in there which are more than just āstick the Wirrn in and weāll have a good storyā.
I canāt comment on the Auntie Pat aspects which worry you but I do know that Death in Blackpool is a hugely affecting story. Human Resources is a great two parter and The Scapegoat is excellent too. Horror of Glam Rock is lovely as well.
I donāt disagree that some of them are a bit āhereās a classic monsterā and not a lot else but I think BF know that nostalgia sells to a lot of Doctor Who fans - even the oneās who arenāt nasty little trolls complaining the showās gone woke.
I also donāt disagree that Season 4 goes a bit off the rails and I donāt think I was as affected by all the many, many deaths but I did quite enjoy the conceit of Lucie being the Monkās companion for a bit. And Graeme Garden is excellent as the Monk.
I also think lots of us know The Ark in Space is good for a lot more than just the Wirrn. And I utterly disagree that Chibnall is trying to emulate RTD1. If anything Season 11 is trying to emulate the Hartnell era - but thatās a different discussion altogether.
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